Liquid Social Choreography

Abstract

For a few months, in 2020, the constant flow of people around the world stopped almost entirely because of the pandemic. Borders were closed, cities placed under blockade and various states of exception restricted or completely abrogated the right to move. The restrictions on movement created a new social choreography of daily movement in the urban public space that became a vast laboratory for political gestures based on movement. A new choreography that obeys social distancing guidelines started to be seen in the Israeli public space. But there were also other movement-based reactions to the new situation, ones that subversively disrupted the rules of exception and ones that resisted them out loud.

Notes

1 By ‘major’ global movements, I refer to those associated with transnational, tourism, academic conferences, art biennials and touring exhibitions, whose proliferation characterizes the hyper-capitalist, neoliberal life of the global North in the last few decades. There are also other kinds of global movements, like the movement of refugees and migrant labourers, whose right to movement is less taken for granted. The pandemic stopped this movement too, with crucial consequences.

2 Without citing Benjamin, Agamben’s ‘Notes on Gesture’ (2000: 49-62) continues the former’s reading of the gestus in Brecht’s epic theatre. The role of the gestus is to interrupt the narrative sequence and the audience’s expectations by exposing situations and creating alienation that forces the audience into an active and critical position (Benjamin 2006 [1939]: 304).

3 The reaction of the ultra-Orthodox community to pandemic restrictions is diverse. This sector is made up of different communities whose relationship to the state varies: some have resisted the state of exception while others comply fully. The state’s attitude towards the ultra-Orthodox community is also complex and ranges between violent repression and turning a blind eye.

4 ‘Be water’ is a practice developed by demonstrators in Hong Kong to avoid arrests in the confrontations with the Chinese state that began in 2019. The phrase derives from Bruce Lee’s injunction to be ‘formless, shapeless, like water’ (Hale 2020).